Newbridge's Deputy Mayor calls for more Gardaí on streets after home is raided

The Deputy Mayor of Newbridge returning to a ransacked home is spurring safety concerns in the town and lack of Garda resources being raised at a Joint Policing Committee meeting at the Kildare County Offices tomorrow.

Cllr Murty Aspell, a Fianna Fáil Cllr,  returned to his home at College Park last Thursday,  a home where he grew up and still has many items belonging to his  parents.

He knew something was wrong  on returning at 8pm, and the back door was open.He had ensured that the house was securely locked.

Cllr Aspell describes how there were many items being gathered, ready for stealing, and he feels that he disrupted the

raiders plans.

He believes that they saw him parking his car in the drive-way and fled. The bedrooms, kitchen and sitting room were all ransacked.  Presses were pulled out.

He said: "The most upsetting thing is the violation of space. This is wrong, the people of the town need to take a stance. These people are stopping us getting out of our houses at night-time. The Gardaí were very good to me, but they are under-resourced."

Cllr Aspell said: "It is a shocking thing, I saw my father's possessions lying on the floor. I am 56 -years-old, could you imagine someone coming into this, who is elderly."

He wants more Garda presence in Newbridge especially in the run up to the Christmas season.

This is the second time that Cllr Aspell has been a victim of a break-in, the previous time he was living in Moorefield.

Cllr Aspell said that he plans to raise the concerns about antisocial behaviour in Newbridge and throughout Co Kildare with Supt Martin Walker, Cllr Martin Miley and other Gardaí attending the Joint Policing Committee meeting tomorrow.

Meanwhile, on the same night that Cllr Aspell's house was broken into, a house in close proximity, at St Dominic's Park was also broken into.